Monday, October 30, 2006

italian court orders berlusconi to stand trial

from cbc: An Italian court on Monday ordered former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and a British lawyer to stand trial on charges of corruption.

Berlusconi, who was defeated in an April election, is accused of channelling at least $700,000 to lawyer David Mills nine years ago.

Italian prosecutors allege that in exchange for the money, Mills provided false testimony during trials in 1997 and 1998 related to Berlusconi's company Mediaset SPA.

Milan Judge Fabio Paparella ordered the men to separately stand trial on charges of false accounting, embezzlement and tax fraud in the purchase by Berlusconi's Mediaset SPA empire of TV rights for U.S. movies.

Paparella issued the ruling after refusing a defence motion to remove him from the case.

If convicted, each man could spend between three and eight years in prison.